The Ends Don't Justify the Means
by LJLL
Summary: One evening in seventh year, Sirius and Peter leave James alone to deal with werewolf Remus.  He can't quite forgive them no matter how hard he tries.  NON SLASH FIC.  JamesxLily.  James POV.
1. Chapter 1

Well, you guys, I'm back with a Marauders era story! I hope you enjoy! It probably won't be a one shot, but review and let me know what you think. (:

**The Ends Don't Justify The Means**

**Chapter One: Even Marauders abandon each other sometimes.**

The air was thick and heavy, and it weighed down upon the two Marauders as they quietly slipped out of the castle. Every month they slipped out at dinner time, when everyone else was eating, merrily talking, no clue what was about to befall Hogsmeade. On these days, James always ate more than he needed to. He made sure, every twenty-eight days and those three-days for which nightfall bade him risk his life, to eat enough so he'd have no problem maintaining his strength in trying circumstances. Sirius and Peter usually joined him in the gorge fest, so it was usually easier. But tonight was different, neither of them were here this time. Dinner had been a bit worse tonight. Remus ate nothing on these such nights, all the better to be less dangerous to his friends. This time, he'd had nothing to do but watch James stuff his face. James' guilt that night was incredible. Though his guilt was rather overshadowed by his anger at Sirius and Peter. How dare they not be there. These three days of the month, when Remus really needed his friends, and they were nowhere to be found.

James hated nights like these most of all because he never knew what to say to Remus. He wanted to embrace his friend, tell him that it was going to be alright, that he was here for him, but Remus never responded to hugging well on such nights. Usually he could keep up a banter going with Sirius, and they'd each attempt to out do the other in ridiculousness, and James remained convinced that it really helped Remus take his mind off his impending transformation - at least as much as it ever was - but tonight they'd been abandoned.

Most nights James didn't bring his glasses or his wand; he couldn't risk getting them broken. Too many questions were never good about what they did on their "Lads' Nights". But tonight he'd been forced to bring his glasses. In the back of his mind, he knew they were going to get smashed, but he needed to see. Tonight, he'd be doing the job of three humans - look out, defender, and anchor. Peter was naturally the look out; being the smallest it was easiest for him. Sirius was, of course, the defender; he was always ready for a fight and it just made sense, besides. James was the anchor. He sat near Remus after he'd initially transformed, time enough for him to calm down, and just sat with him. He genuinely thought it helped.

"It'll be tough to press the knot. We'll need a long stick." His hazel eyes scanned the ground in front of them.

A dry chuckle. "Peter, the little git. First time he's not around and we really need him."

James tried to be reassuring. "S'alright. I'll find one." But his usual charisma of voice was conspicuously absent. After a bit more searching, he managed to locate an appropriate branch to use. With much darting and skirting around dangerously close to the whomping willow's deadly branches, and almost getting hit in the face, gut, and ribs, he managed to prod the knot.

"You're getting good at that, you know."

He smirked. "Practice. You'll have to try it one of these days." With a grunt and swift motion, he went down on all fours and crawled into the tunnel. The darkness was only mild at this point, as the sun hadn't quite set. James was thankful for the bit of light. He couldn't help but feel it a tad symbolic. He heard Remus crawl in behind him, and together they began the easiest part of the night.

James grunted. "This tunnel used to be a lot bigger."

"Everything seems to shrink when you look at the world as the object that is changing and not yourself." said Remus quietly.

He laughed. "That's true. Then again, if we'd never changed we'd still be scrawny first years trying to figure out why our mate's relatives kept becoming deathly ill around the same time every month."

Remus grinned in the dark. "That is the truth. I have so many ill relatives. I think it runs in the family. Maybe I should get checked out. Maybe something is wrong with me." James hated the half bitterness that had crept into his tone at the end, but at least it was still half joking. His eyes narrowed with determination. He'd just have to try harder, then.

"If there's _some_ thing wrong with you, there's about five things wrong with Peter, ten wrong with me, and twenty wrong with Sirius."

"There are an infinite amount of things wrong with Sirius." He was laughing now, and James felt a swell of pride.

"Like that time in the Prefects' bath. If he hadn't gotten off Lily, I swear I was going to hex his bits off." He laughed.

"It would have taught him a lesson. He should just be glad he hasn't gotten near Marlene. If he does... well I may have to forget that I'm a prefect for a few minutes. "

James grinned. "No one'd fault you there."

The end of the tunnel found them then, and James emerged into the dust.

Remus tripped a bit as he stood up. He brushed off his pant leg and frowned. "Here we are again."

James looked around. "It's as lovely as ever."

"Mmmm. Cheery as usual." He kicked a broken chair leg across the floor.

Prongs steadied himself. "Shall we, er?" He made a vague gesture to the heavy chains laying in the back of the room.

Moony frowned and came forward, holding out his arms.

Trying not to think about what he was doing too much, James chained his friend to the wall. He sat down beside his friend, then, and watched his face contort into what looked like a suspiciously permanent frown. "Is something bothering you? More than the usual, I mean."

He shook his head. "Just anxious to get this over with."

James nodded. "Yeah, I wish they were here, too."

Remus didn't look up, but he dipped his head slightly in consensus.

"We'll hex 'em good later. So good, Flitwick'll be impressed with our work and automatically give us O's on the O.W.L.s." Prongs grinned with a bit of effort.

These were the hard moments, too. Trying to keep up the conversation in the time before the moon rose, trying not to look at the window in the moments between words to see how much time they had left.

"There's no need to do that." He looked toward the windows.

Inwardly, Prongs sighed. Remus always stopped grinning at about this time, just before the moon rose. James knew he could feel it. He, himself, could feel the dread creeping up his spine. No matter how strong or brave a Gryffindor he was, it was a nauseating site to see his best mate in excruciating pain. Gathering his nerve once again, he tried a tactic, though his voice was still quiet. "I bet it'll be easier this time, now you've got Marlene. I bet you'll retain more of your humanity."

"You think so?" James didn't miss the hope, or the pain, in his mate's voice.

He nodded, though he knew Remus couldn't see him do so. "Definitely. You did say it became easier this year, now you aren't alone." He stood up and walked to the far corner of the room, doing his best not to wince at how loud his footsteps sounded in the tense silence, and put his glasses down behind an upturned chair. Attempting to be quiet, he made his way back to Remus' side. "Should I change now?"

Remus nodded and, obviously with effort, looked up. James sent him a smile and hoped it gave him a last bit of comfort. With a deep breath, James put all his might into concentrating. His limbs and head lengthened, majestic antlers sprouted from his hairline, his hands and feet became hooves, and mahogany fur carpeted his body all in an the blink of an eye. A fully mature stag then stood in James' place. It was always easier for the werewolf if the animals were already around. Humans triggered his instinct to kill, and animals popping out of nowhere wasn't much better. Curiously, his werewolf self never attempted to hunt any of them, and had only tried after humans once or twice. Though they'd never let him kill anyone. Remus trusted them all, above everything else, with that. James'd never live with himself if he let it happen, either. He only hoped he could manage tonight, by himself, if they had a passerby who drifted too close. But he refused to let himself think like that. Remus was still Remus; he always maintained at least a part of his humanity, even on his worst nights.

Through the stag's eyes, James saw his friend open up his eyes, and knew at once he was searching for him. He met his gaze evenly. Remus almost grinned, and James immediately felt himself perk up, but then his friend's lips split the opposite direction and a piercing howl of pain broke the night. He was starting to breathe heavily. He was starting to lose it. With a sharp gasp of pain he fell to his knees, his eyes unmoving from the window.

James fought every instinct he had to step back, to run, to get away, and forced his legs into a locked position. Deer weren't naturally fighters, another reason the roll usually fell to Sirius, and in fact were rather fearful by nature. They were dammed fast and could put up a good fight when they needed to, but they much preferred staying out of danger.

A horrible sound unlike anything else that could only be the tearing of flesh was suddenly loud in James' ears, and his heart went out to Remus. His eyes sought James' again, and the clear plea in them for help was heartbreaking, even to the stag. It killed James that he couldn't help Remus anymore than this. But Remus' eyes were changing. Their soft, intelligent blue was contorting into something purely skillful, a kind of sharp amber, and the pupil shrunk on itself so that it was more slit like, and barley reminiscent of a human. Forcing himself not to continue to meet Remus' eyes, James saw the bones lengthen and the soft, sandy brown hair recoil into Remus' skull, and, with a last, agonizing scream of pain, a fully-mature, bulky, panting werewolf lay in Remus' place.

James steeled himself. And so it began again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Haha, nope. Definitely not a one shot. Maybe a novel length? C: We shall see! :D**

Sunlight peaked in through the overcast bit by bit as the day dawned. The grounds of Hogwarts castle were still and almost completely silent. The whomping willow, for once the most unsuspecting tree for miles, lay still and innocent. If only because its secret had only just left for the night.

Illuminated by scarcely more than the quality of candle light were two silhouettes by the names of James Potter and Remus Lupin. The second boy looked badly cut up and was indeed shoddily patched with hastily ripped pieces of white shirt, and was fairly unconscious as he limped, mostly supported by his friend, up towards the school. The other boy was almost in as bad a condition; his glasses were askew atop his face, one lens hosting a nasty crack in the corner, his shirt was in such tatters he might have been wearing bandages himself, both his knees were crusted in blood from the night's events, the evidence of which was particularly visible through the large tear in his right pant leg, and his hair was mussed worse than ever before. It may have appeared that the second boy be in worse condition, but the first's scars were profusely mental.

James' labored breathing was virtually the only sound as he barely managed to make it into the Entrance Hall and through the great oak front doors. He was debating between their own dorm room and the hospital wing. Normally, it was straight back to their room, but normally he had Padfoot and Wormtail with him. Normally, he hadn't had to support a bloodied, badly hurt Remus the entire way. Normally, it wasn't just a stag and a werewolf alone all night. Normally, the agonizing sense of betrayal didn't hang over the two marauders. Normally, things were never this bad. Any other day it would've been straight to bed, but James was fairly certain both he and Remus were still bleeding, and he was much too weak from being a stag all night to do a proper healing charm and risk giving both of them worse lethal wounds than they'd already contracted. Steeling himself to the inevitable, he turned himself toward the Hospital Wing when a sharp gasp broke the silence.

He wheeled around with energy he was sure only two seconds prior he didn't possess to see the shocked of face of the lovely Miss Lily Evans. Nearly dropping Remus from his own surprise, it took James a moment to process that they'd just been discovered. James didn't know how long they stood there, both too lost in their own shock and thoughts to do much else, before he finally found his voice. He wanted to say a million things. A million excuses, each more pitiful than the last, flitted through his brain endlessly. A fleeting thought urged him to ask her out so they could make their daring, extremely slow escape. Instead, he found himself with only one word for her. "Help?"

For one terrifying moment, the Head Girl looked as if she was going to start yelling and wake up the whole castle. Instead, her face took on a determined expression, and she walked purposefully toward them and took up Remus' other side. James felt a rush of gratefulness toward her that, for once, did not go below his belt. Some crazy voice in the back of his mind told him to strike up conversation, but the long trek to the Hospital Wing weighed on his mind, and so he kept his mouth shut.

After twenty agonizing minutes of literally dragging Remus along corridor after corridor, they finally arrived. Lily hurried forward to knock, but James, with the last bit of his adrenaline he summoned from somewhere deep within his Gryffindor heart of gold, simply burst in. Madam Pomfrey, already dressed for work, took one look at the bloodied, severely injured mess that was James and Remus and grimly urged them forward. She made to take care of James, also, but he refused. He helped her put Remus on a bed in the back, and then sat down on the bed next to it, trying to steady his breathing.

Another minute passed while Madam Pomfrey inspected Remus' wounds. Since he was asleep, she deemed James next to be attended to. With one look at his mate's numerous injuries, James again managed to find his voice, wheezing though it was, it exuded steely resolve. "Him first."

Madam Pomfrey had a tight-lipped frown for the Quidditch Captain, but resigned herself to her first task.

James did his best not to watch as Madam Pomfrey undressed Remus' badly-attended-to wounds and instead chose to focus on the object of his torment for the past six and a half years. Again, the two only stared at each other for ages. It was only after Madam Pomfrey had been busying away behind the curtain with Remus for at least ten minutes did Lily appear to find her own Gryffindor courage.

He expected a burst of inquiries. He half-expected a blazing telling off. But what he did not expect were the two words she said.

"Full moon?"

He nodded.

She frowned and sat on the other edge of the bed.

The Head Boy and Girl sat in a tired silence for another long minute. This normally would never happen with him, but James had no energy for his usual ridiculous remarks. Finally, "Potter?"

"Yes?"

"Were you… by yourself?"

It was James' turn to stare at her. None of them had ever told anyone about Remus' transformations, so his only conclusion was that she'd figured it out herself. But that didn't mean she'd discerned their animagi. So he played it safe, assuming she thought something along the lines of he had gone to get Remus a bit too early. "Yeah."

She frowned. "I saw Sirius and Peter in the Common Room around midnight, playing exploding snap. … Peter burned his eyebrows off."

A swell of anger made James' chest tighten.

"I wondered where you two had gone. Then I remembered it was the full moon." 

He gave her a curt nod, his friends' sting of betrayal fresher on his mind at the news of how their night had been spent.

"So you've been with Remus alone this whole night?"

Again trying to be careful not to give too much away, he nodded.

"That was really brave of you, James."

His brain was only capable of registering two things other than his immense shock. Lily Evans had just complimented. Lily Evans had just used his first name. Suddenly there wasn't room in his chest for the sting anymore, and instead his stomach was doing flipflops as pride and something like happiness settled.

"But, really, you can't come clambering up the Entrance Hall at five thirty in the morning. Anyone could've caught you."

The bountiful buildup of emotion in his chest returned as annoyance joined the previous two emotions. And with it betrayal came right along. Suddenly, James wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, even Lily. He almost glared at her before he caught himself, however he could not stop the bite that crept into his voice. "In case you can't tell, I've been through quite the ordeal tonight, and I'd prefer you leave me alone right now. You're making me feel too many things, and I'd really just like to sleep and be numb for a couple of hours."

Her eyes widened, and for a moment she looked like she was going to tell him off again. Instead, she had the grace to look embarrassed. "Oh, yes, of course…" Her voice trailed off as she exited the room with haste.

James couldn't find the energy to stare at her backside as she left. Instead, he laid back on the bed. The pillow felt like jesus.

Just then, Madam Pomfrey came out from behind Remus' curtain, all business, as she began to attend to his wounds.

"Pomfrey?" He asked after a moment. James was sure it was only his condition that she let the use of her first name slide.

"Yes, Mr. Potter?" He noticed the distinct gentle edge to her voice that came on these nights.

"Can you treat me if I'm unconscious?"

She nodded. "Well, yes, of course I can. But, wasn't Miss Evans just here? How did you get so hurt, anyway? Mr. Lupin is worse than he usually is, and you, James, I've never seen you this hurt…" But she trailed off when she looked up and saw the boy's hazel eyes closed and his head lolling pleasantly off to one side on the jesus pillow. With a resigned sigh, she pulled off his glasses, repaired them, and laid them on his night stand. "When you wake up, then." She mumbled to herself.

Shuffling over to her office, she flicked off the light switch, swished the curtains of James' bed closed too, and gave herself a last look around. Her eyes were shining with tears. "Those boys go through so much."

James stirred restlessly, peeking out unwillingly from behind his long lashes. At first confused when he found his dormitory to be so drastically changed, it took him a moment to remember that last night had been the full moon. With this realization came the one that Sirius and Peter had abandoned him and Remus. Anger hardened his heart as he sat up. No matter how tired he was from the previous night's excursions, he knew his own exhaustion would never compare to Remus'. He rose from his bed carefully, forgetting his glasses as he walked past them, and made his way to Remus' bed in the corner.

He stretched experimentally, twisting his torso this way and that, breaking out into a grin when he found himself mildly sore at best. He could've had a quidditch practice last night. Madam Pomfrey really was amazing. He'd have to get her a really good Christmas gift. His otherwise cheery attitude was sobered immediately when he pulled back the curtains of his mate's bad.

Remus was laying on his back, his limbs each at an awkward angle, as if he'd been trying to get comfortable and had failed miserably so had simply left them where they'd ended up. James was glad the exhaustion had been merciful last night. Though Lupin was slightly out of focus, James could clearly see the bandages that wound from his breastbone to his hips. He knew for a fact the transformation was hardest on the torso. There were new scratches on Remus' arms, and his leg was sporting a kind of badly-shaped crescent moon.

_Irony._ James thought wryly. With a sense of obligation he made his way to Madam Pomfrey's office, not bothering to knock – lest he wake Remus.

She was there, already dressed for the day, though James supposed he didn't exactly know what time it was, organizing some files. Her thin mouth curved into a smile when she saw him up and walking around. "Mr. Potter, have a seat."

He sat, closing the door behind him, anticipating what was coming next.

"Mr. Potter, you were grievably hurt yourself last night." Madam Pomfrey knew better than to ask direct questions by this point. She was still organizing the files.

James avoided the question. "What exactly was wrong with Remus?"

The woman sighed and sat across from him, frowning. "His leg was nearly fractured. That was a nasty bit of cleaning. He'll be fine now, of course, it'll just be sore for a couple of days. He'll have to take his potions. But he knows that." Her eyes flickered to the door, and James read clearly the sympathy in her gaze. "He'll have some new scars now, and of course his midsection will be tender for the next few days, but that's nothing new."

James nodded.

"What was new, Mr. Potter, were your rather impressive injuries for someone that stayed in their four poster all night."

He made a comical face, to the disapproval of Madam Pomfrey. She wasn't to be dissuaded. "Aw, Poppy, you know I can't tell you."

She regarded him with hard eyes for a full minute and a half before she resigned herself to a long sigh. "Yes, Mr. Potter, I know. You and Mr. Black and Mr. Pettigrew have many secrets. I admire your loyalty to Mr. Lupin."

James genuinely grinned at the compliment. "We are the Marauders, after all."

She allowed herself a small smile. "Mr. Lupin is very lucky to have friends such as yourselves."

James stood up. "We're lucky to have him. He's a prefect, you know. And right intelligent. He lets us copy all the time –" He stopped talking, pretending to look guilty. "Have I made a funny?"

The disapproval was back, but James saw her eyes twinkling with mirth. "It's about noon, Mr. Potter, perhaps you oughta get some lunch?"

James walked toward the door. "I'll wait for Remus." He shut the door behind him and paced quietly back to his own bed. If he were lucky, he could sleep more. However, half way there his stomach gave a particularly loud growl. Freezing mid-step, his eyes flashed to Remus, who did nothing more than snore. James rolled his eyes. Snoring usually meant he'd be up soon.

Young Mr. Potter was now faced with a conundrum, though. Two of life's greatest needs were battling inside him: sleep or hunger. He could always go to sleep and then stuff himself at dinner, but oh, the prospect of lunch was tempting him. If he slept now he'd have trouble sleeping tonight, which almost guaranteed a screwed up sleep schedule for the next week. But he couldn't leave Remus. He wouldn't abandon him, too.

Unbidden, images of roast chicken flooded his mind, accompanied by mashed potatoes, strawberry tarts, and countless pitchers of ice cold pumpkin juice. He licked his lips self consciously. If he nicked out for a bite really quickly, Remus would never even know… His eyes focused on the door, the prospect tantalizing. Fortunately, he was saved from making the choice when the Hospital Wing's Two Large Doors were knocked on quite loudly.

Hunger and sleep-deprivation forgotten, he raced toward the day to "SHHHHH" whoever it was. Opening them just a crack, for he was fearful of them creaking, he poked his head out and came face to face with Lily Evans. Quite literally face to face, in fact; there was less than six inches between their noses. Another of his strong teenage James Potter instincts took over, and he was in instant flirt mode. He gave her a charming smile. "Come here often?"

She narrowed her eyes, but seemed to lack any real malice. "Today, yes, unfortunately. You and Remus've seem to hurt yourselves pretty badly."

James stepped back to offer her passage, subtlely posing. "Me? Nonsense, I'm right as rain. Fit as Phil. Just a bit hungry." As if to prove his point, his stomach gave another loud growl. He grinned, unabasahed.

Lily raised a delicate eyebrow. "Clearly. Well, I've brought some food for Remus, but I suppose you can have some… Just leave him the best of it!"

He pretended to be indignant. "I see how it is, Evans. I've been through an ordeal as well, I'll have you know!"

Calmly walking past him, apparently quite unamused by his theatrics, she made her way over to Remus' bad and laid the food there. With the tone of a placating mother she addressed him again. "Is that right?"

He made his way over to her. "Indeed it is. Lads' Nights are always rough on the four of us, you see." The mention of the easy term 'the four of us' immediately soured James' attitude. He'd give them hell when he saw them. With effort, he attempted to pull himself out of his arse. As long as she didn't ask, he'd be fine.

"Speaking of, where were Black and Peter?"

He did his best to keep from looking sulky. "A good question deserves a good answer. As I haven't got one, I say a change of topic is in order."

She raised her eyebrow again as his evasiveness, but seemed appeasing. "Fine. What were you doing out there with Remus at daybreak, both of you so injured you could barely walk?"

"Excuse me, I could walk just fine."

"You're both bleeding; he's not even conscious; your glasses are on crooked; you're practically dragging his full weight alone across the school; your shirt is torn up; he's bandaged from head to foot; you ask me for help, and you're just standing there, shaking, trying to grin at me, and you expect me not to be suspicious?"

He scowled. "Careful, there, Evans you'll insult my manly pride."

She was unimpressed with his joke. "As Head Boy, Potter, you need to be setting a better example for the younger students. You can't just come traipsing up the Entrance Hall at five in the morning – especially not bloody and possibly dying!"

It was his turn to raise his eyebrow. "Interested in my well-being, are we?"

She glared.

"Bite your tongue, Evans! People will start thinking you've got feelings for me!"

She scowled, but, and it could've been the light reflecting off her hair, he thought she was blushing ever so slightly. "Don't be ridiculous." She hissed under her breath.

Unbothered, James wandered over and grabbed a sandwich she'd brought. Taking a bite, he grinned. "Aw, Evans, you know just what I like."

She scowled again. "Coincidence."

He sat on his bed and finished eating, and, to his surprise, she sat with him.

After several minutes of silence, she asked, "He's a werewolf, isn't he?"

James sputtered. Thank god he'd just swallowed his sandwich, or else he would've spit it out. As it was, part of it did manage to get stuck in his windpipe. Struggling to speak past the roast beef, he got out, "Don't-don't be ridiculous."

She rolled her eyes and looked at Remus again, who was mercifully still asleep. "It makes sense, you know. He's always sick around the full moon. He does a good job covering it up, but if one pays close enough attention… I've known since last year."

James regarded her with open shock. For something to do, he reached for his glasses and put them on. "Now that you're in focus, let me properly judge your sanity." On the one hand, he could lie to her. On the other hand, he could come clean. If he lied, he'd be saving Remus' skin, but when Lily found out the truth she'd probably be angry with him. After all, when they dated, he planned on telling her everything. But he couldn't risk it until that point. If he told her the truth, maybe she'd be able to help. She was really good at potions, maybe there was something she could make him. For the second time that day James was saved from an awkward situation.

With a coughing fit, Remus sat up. Wearily, he rested his eyes on Lily. "I'm a werewolf." said his scratchy voice.

James' eyes widened. _Woah._

Remus' did too, actually, when Lily got off the bed, placed her hand on his, and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm here for you, Remus."

At first, James looked to Remus, gauging his reaction, but they very quickly turned to Lily, and he felt an overwhelming sense of adoration for the girl. Only with practiced effort of holding himself back around her, as James was a touchy feely, physical sort of bloke, did he manage not to hug her.

Just then, Madam Pomfrey came bustling into the room. "Mr. Lupin, ah, good, you're awake! Take your potions!" Without further prompting, she fed him a large spoonful of what looked like goblin piss.

Remus gagged, but swallowed obligingly.

James looked at the round of seven others he had to down, and did not envy his best mate. He grinned at him, though. "Have fun with that, Remus."

Lupin grinned weakly. "I'll be sure too, Prongsy."

Madam Pomfrey struck again with the spoon, and, while Remus couldn't speak, rounded on the Head Boy and Head Girl. "Off to lunch, both of you. Mr. Lupin needs his rest. Excitable visitors aren't good for him at this stage."

James made to protest, as did Lily, when Remus held up his hand and weakly stated, "Go. I'll be down for dinner."

James nodded once. Lily, however, was still protesting, "Madam Pomfrey, I'm not all that excitable. I really don't think Remus should be left alone –"

James put a forcible hand around her shoulders. "Come on, Evans, we'll come see him later. Bye, Moony!" He called loudly, waving cheerily as they strode out. Deliberately, he kept his arm around her.

Not ten seconds later, she made a noise of frustration. "You can let go now!"

"Can I? My arm appears to be stuck. Lads' Night will do that to you."

She shrugged out from his arm, glaring.

"You fixed me, Evans!" He grinned.

"I'll fix something else." She threatened, and James had no doubts what she meant.

He put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"I should fix your shirt, really." She continued, doing her best to look annoyed. "You're hardly wearing one at all!"

_It's cute how she sounds annoyed._ "You're right. I might as well not be at all." With a flourish, he pulled his shirt clean off and tucked the tatters into his pocket.

Her eyes narrowed. Sarcasm laced her tone. "Oh, much better."

He grinned. "Glad you think so."

"You really should get a new shirt before you go to lunch."

"Why, Evans, is my state of near-nakedness bothering you?" His eyebrows rose and his grin widened.

There was that blush again. "Hardly, Potter. It's just, people'll be trying to eat. We wouldn't want them throwing up."

At that point, he half-expected her to storm away, but she remained by his side, though her arms were now folded tightly across her chest and she was now glaring resolutely forward.

He took it as a good sign, though.

The rest of the trip was made in relative silence, with more banter between the two. They arrived in the Great Hall in about ten more minutes, James still shirtless, to see lunch in full swing. James sat down near Sirius and Peter, fully intending to give them a piece of his mind, when, to his surprise, Lily sat next to him - which caused him to forget his upcoming speech about loyalty and gits.

"James, mate! There you are!"

James narrowed his eyes at Padfoot. "Yes, I've just been so busy I haven't had time to see you, Padfoot."

Sirius nodded solemnly. "Yes, and our bromance has suffered for it. But wait 'til you see what Peter and I have got cooked up! We spent the whole night working on it. We figured you and Remus'd manage alone."

His hazel eyes narrowed further. "Yeah, we managed."

Unfortunately, Sirius had not yet picked up the malice in his best mate's tone. "It's gonna be brilliant. See, it's all about Snape and Moony. Next month, we're - Oi, Evans, what're you doing here? Has James given you a love potion?"

Lily made to answer, but Sirius had touched two big nerves in the last minute, and James' temper got the better of him. He stood up suddenly and slammed his hands on the table. "You can't just abandon us, Padfoot! You and Wormtail both! We need you there, and you left to-to plan a bloody prank? We really need to be there for Remus, and you two thought it more important to plan a prank on Snivellus?"

Also unfortunately, Sirius had quite the temper himself. He copied James' actions. "You were just saying how you could manage alone! And this prank'll be brilliant – old Snivellus will finally get what he deserves! Don't go shouting at me in the bloody Great Hall for being brilliant! What's your problem, anyway?"

"You abandoned us!" James shouted, nearly as loudly as he could, and by this time everyone in the Great Hall had turned their way. He looked around suddenly, ran a hand through his hair, and seemed to be struggling to gain control over his temper. In a deadly whisper that was somehow scarier than his shouting, he hissed, so low that only Sirius, Peter, and Lily could hear, "You abandoned us. That's the one night Remus really needs us, and you weren't there. I'm disgusted with the both of you. Come find us when you've got your apology good and ready. It better be damn sincere, too." With anger, he pushed the table back, upsetting several people in the process, and strode from the Great Hall.

**Cliffie! Don't hate me? I feel like the last scene could've been a bit confusing, and, please, tell me if it was. I'd be only too happy to clarify!**


End file.
